Seconds
by WeAllFlyHigh
Summary: Squeal to Chat Cafe: A picture is worth a thousand words. The words produced by the picture of Marinette kissing Chat would include a lot of denials and explanations. Add another dozen photos and there might be a confession.
1. Chapter 1

Long after the sun had gone down Paris was still awake. The cold autumn air carried the sounds of city life upwards. Hidden by the darkness Chat Noir's ears twitched as he took it all in. A thud and the clatter of stone announced the arrival of another.

"No signs of Hawkmouth tonight," Ladybug said as she approached.

Chat turned to look at her. She was as lovely as she always was. "I didn't see anything either."

Ladybug knelt down farther away from the edge than her partner. This far up at night Chat's figure was invisible to the busy Parisians but the red of her suit didn't garentee the same stealth. She smiled down at her city. "It's beautiful."

He smiled at her. "I've never seen a sight lovelier than you m'lady."

The heroine snorted but didn't bother to reply to his flirtations.

Chat sat down on the against a building's chimney. He was still close enough to the edge that he could look down but far enough away to ensure he didn't slip off. Once he was settled he could only stay quite for a few moments. y"Cat got your tongue? I understand I can be overwhelming."

"You've got that right," she replied with a roll of her eyes.

Chat inched closer to her. "What, you don't believe me? I assure you all the little kittens want me," he purred and batted his eyes.

Ladybug cocked an eyebrow at his preening. Was he serious? Of course he was. He could control neither his ego nor his flirting. But speaking of cats and Chat, she hadn't gotten around to asking him about the cafe. So why not see if she could teach him a leason and get some answers? The heroian fluttered her lashes and smiled coyly. "I'm sure they all want your pettings."

Chat found himself lost in her eyes for several moments before her words sunk in. He might be a flirt but that was rather riske for Ladybug to say. Did she really think he was that he was anything less than fully devoted to her? "My lady, surely you know that I wouldn't-"

She cut him off. If she didn't they would be here all night just talking about his 'honor' and his 'love' for her. For someone prowling the night in leather he could be such a prisy kitty. "Cats, Chat. I meant actual cats."

Chat's stomach flipped. His face heated under his mask and he looked away. "I knew that."

Ladybug watched him from the corner of her eye. Now that he was calmed down she could finally get around to her questions. She sat down on the roof beside him but further from the ledge. She crossed one leg over the other and looked her partner in the eyes. She wouldn't be moving until she had her answers.

"Speaking of cats. I heard a story about you and little cafe."

Chat turned back to her. "The Chat Cafe?"

"Exactly. Is it true?"

Chat's tail whipped around behind him thudding on the tiles behind him. The Chat Cafe had become quite popular. He was glad to help the owners by giving them some of his noterary. It was something he was never able to do as Adrien. That was always his father's decisions. But that didn't guarentte that's what Ladybug heard.

Rumours did have a habit of growing out of control. He had heard some pretty outrageious stories surounding the cafe. One claimed he was actually the owner. Another said that he had been severly wounded while saving the owners and that they had learned his identity and had to keep him sheltered there for several days. Yet another claimed that an akuma had cursed him and now whenever he was not defending the city he was trapped as the stone statue. He didn't know how well beilived they were and surely Ladybug would have dismissed most of them but it never hurt to be sure.

"What did you hear?"

"You saved a cat and now there's a cafe in your honor."

That was the abbreviated version of it all. He grinned bashfully and ran a hand through his hair. "I wouldn't say it's in my honor. They're just using me for the publicity."

"With your permission?" Ladybug looked hard into his eyes. She might be allowed to yank his tail occastionally but no one was allowed to take advantage of him, even if he let them. He was too self sacrificing sometimes.

"Yeah." Chat smiled at her softly.

"And the statue?"

Oh the statue. Chat still wasn't completely sure how he had ended up agreeing to it. It seemed as if one moment he was just talking about the idea of the cafe and the next he was posing he was in a basement surrounded by bright lights and excited chatter. His part in the statue's creation had been very similar to modleing. Physically it was easy, but it was unnerving. He wasn't distant as Chat Noir, he was very eager to talk to civians or emergency services, but having someone examine him so closely. It was risky.

He hadn't thought it would turn into such a big deal. Sure, he knew that there wasn't another place like it and he knew that the cafe would benefit from it. It wasn't even a surprise to him to see the Ladyblog report on it. But he was shocked to see it go further.

The flood of pictures was unexpected. They made him swell with pride and blush with embarressment. There were just so many. Sure he had to get close to other models and maybe he had kissed a few for shoots. But those were for work and everyone was more focused on getting the photos to look perfect rather than what was actually happening. To see literally hundreds of people posed kissing his statue, that was something else, and probably not sanitay. Some of the people had been classmates. Alya had even put a banner with her and Marinette on the Ladyblog. However, there was a slight risk to all of it, his identity. It was probably best to get the apologises out of the way now rather than wait for Ladybug to lecture him on the importance of secrecy.

"That wasn't my idea and I wouldn't of agreed... but that women! She's just... one minute she was all flattering and the next she was..." Why were Ladybug's lips pursing. Her eyes were narrowing again. He was still talking, wasn't he? And come to think of it he wasn't explaining himself very well. "She's very persuasive ok? It wasn't my idea and I'm sorry I didn't let you know about it or run it by you. But it's doing some good."

Ladybug nodded. "It's ok Chat I just wanted to know." Ladybug sighed and looked up at the night sky. "So the women, the wife I take it, sculpted that herself?"

"Yeah. She's very talented."

"I know, I saw it. I wasn't expecting it to be so good. It could really give the park statue a run for its money. And to make it so fast. I mean she got that idea after Bubblegun, right?"

"You saw it?" Chat winced as soon as the words left his mouth. Of course she saw it. She knew about the Ladyblog. She had even brought statue up.

"I think every teenage girl in Paris has gone there to get a picture with your double. It's hard to miss." Ladybug tapped his nose. Chat leaned back and rubbed the spot she had touched. "Maybe Copycat should have just set up a photo booth. He would have made a killing."

He had to laugh at that thought. Copycat in a kissing booth like a bad cliche in some romcom. How would that comparison work out? Who would be the desperate love interest? Normally he was the one trying to capture Ladybug's affections. But that didn't really work. Maybe if had been planning to use the booth as an excuse to kiss Ladybug and Copycat had taken his place but... he was getting way off track.

"It would be nothing in comparison to what you would make," Chat said.

"Please." Ladybug laughed and waved her hand like she was brushing away the suggestion. Sure she knew Paris loved her, she read the papers, but she doubted that many people actually wanted to kiss her. Afterall, she was still just Marinette under the mask and Marinette didn't do so well in the romance department.

Chat smiled and leaned closer once more. "Don't be bashful." Chat gestured towards the city below them. "Everyone down there loves you m'lady."

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "They love you too."

"Not the way they love you."

"Silly cat."

How could she not believe him, Chat thought. She always had twice the amount of twice of reporters swirming around her. Red with spots was the hottest thing on the runaway for the second season and people always assumed he was the sidekick before she corrected them. Ladybug was the star of the show and she did it with grace and humility. All the more reason she was loved. He had to wonder how long it would be until some other shop opened up with a statue of his lady in front. They were probably just waiting for her permission.

His cheeks grew hot under his mask. Would the same trend start with her statue? Probably. Even if it didn't would he still kiss it when he went to see it? But he was her partner and was in love with her, was that crossing a line? She had never accepted his feelings before and he didn't want to disrespect her. Not everyone that posed with his statue had kissed it so that's what he would do. He definately had to see it, it would be a show of support for his partner. Ladybug would do the same for him.

Chat Noir felt himself lurch torwards the rooftops edge. He quickly scrambled back. "My Lady?" His voice was rough and high pitched.

Ladybug looked at him with concern. He was always prone to bad luck but nearly falling off a roof he had been sitting on undisturbed, that was at odds with his cat like grace.

"You went to the cafe?" He said while reaching for his tail.

Ladybug watched him from the corner of her eye as she answered. "Yeah the puns on the menu were almost as bad as yours. I mean, the chat's _meow_ sse. But it was pretty good. Cute decor too."

Chat ran his hands over his tails leather and wrapped it around his wrist. Ladybug knew that gesture. He always fidgetted with his tail when he was nervous. Not that it happened often.

Chat breathed in deeply. He couldn't believe he was asking this. "Did you...I mean everyone else..."

Ladybug felt her jaw drop as she realized exactly why he was so nervous. "NO," she denied. Why did she bring this up? Of course he would ask. There was no reason he wouldn't have heard about the kissing. Her own civilian photo had been on the Ladyblog for two whole weeks before she had gotten Alya a picture so good she knew her friend would have no choice but to replace it. It hadn't been easy either.

Her denile did nothing to convince Chat. It had no hope of doing so when her face was turning as red as her suit. Instead Chat's heart stopped and his tail slipped from his hands.

"You did. You posed with my statue!" He felt a little breathless and giddy. It wasn't much but maybe this was a step to getting her to accept his love. It could be, maybe. He couldn't let this moment pass. He ran his hands through his hair and gave her a bright smile. "You know if you want a picture with the real thing you could just ask."

This was not how Ladybug planned this conversation going. She had to get control of it. But how? He was not going to let her pretend that she didn't unless she could say it with a straight face and she couldn't lie to him.

She took a deep breath and stood up. She planted her feet firmly and placed her hands on her hips. Chat's eyes darted from her to the roof's edge. In that moment she moved closer.

"Sure you can keep up with the hype?"

"What?" Ladybug smirked at him. She had caught him off gaurd with that one and if she pushed a bit further she could get what she wanted.

"Lines of girls waiting to kiss you. Chat, are you sure you'd measure up?"

Chat's breath hissed out between his teeth. It was a challenge to get his tongue to move so his lips could form words. "You kissed it?" His voice was even higher than before.

Ladybug attempted to laugh and then shrugged as if it was no big deal. She did not, however, look him in the eyes. "Who hasn't?"

"You didn't," he gasped.

"It was even online." She acted as if she hadn't fought tooth and nail to try and avoid having that photo even taken.

"You're lying. I saw tons of those. You didn't. I never...My Lady! What about keeping our identities a secret?"

She tried to cover her wince at that comment. She moved closer to him and braced herself. She put her hands on his shoulders and looked up at him. "Well if you saw tons of them and never figured it out than why would someone else? Besides my whole class did it. It would be suspisious if I didn't."

"That's not fair. I kept mine offline." Ladybug let go of him and stepped away, towards the ledge. Another step or two and people would see her. Another step and she could escape this conversation

"You kissed your own statute? Chat, I didn't think that you were like that." She winked at him. "Be careful not to stare at it too deeply or you might end up pinning away." With a flick of her wrist her yoyo flew off and she follwed it a moment later. As she swung above their heads people looked up and scrambled for their phones and cameras.

Chat didn't follow. If she was so determined to avoid talking about kissing him-his statue than he would let her go. He should even let the subject drop entirely. Just let the statue continue being nothing but a thing he passed when he took the long way to school. He just needed to never think about how she must have stood beside it and pressed her lips against the cool stone. Never wonder if she had made a special trip to see it or if she too passed it reguarly.

Who was he kidding? He had to look over those photos again.

* * *

AN: My pun game is so weak.

Please review, it helps motivate and improve my writing. I plan on doing a prequel with the events that led to the cafe.

Big thanks to those that reviewed the prequel, it's the reason this exists.


	2. Wrong Order

Adrien didn't know what to do. Plagg's tail kept twitching and each time it touched his nose Adrien felt an odd combination of wanting to sneeze and having his airway blocked. He really wanted to move the little kwami but knew there would be consequences. Plagg didn't like to be undermined. Last time Adrien had apparently done so the kwami had let some of his cheese rot under Adrien's bed. Trying to get the smell out before a maid discovered it was nearly as the smell itself.

This time Plagg claimed that this was how he was disciplining Adrein, not punishing him for leaving the Plagg stranded in his bag with no way to block out the makeup artists half hour talk on the importance of contour. Plagg was sleeping on his head. This wasn't a normal thing for the kwami to do, in fact the cat liked to complain about how Adrien's hair moved around too much and got into his mouth. Why this bothered the little black cat was a mystery to Adrien considering the amount of times he had caught Plagg grooming his hair. But as long as Plagg was on his head Adrien couldn't get to his computer.

He had been searching for Ladybug's picture for hours. He had looked at as many as he could. Fortunately, there were several galleries set up and he had saved a few himself, which was kind of creepy if he thought about it. Unfortunately, a number of the photos had been moved or deleted. From what he could tell they were taken done mostly for personal reasons by the pictures subject.

He wished he could have at least narrowed his search down some. Yet he knew his transformation changed his appearance and couldn't take the chance that ladybug's did the same. One conversation with Plagg that involved about five kilograms of high quality cheese revealed that past Ladybug's had done so.

Sure he had suspicions about Ladybug's identity. Even if the history textbook hadn't been hers it was very unlikely that she was centuries old but it did mean that she had access to someone in his grade or at least their textbook. If she wasn't in his grade she could be a sibling close to their age or maybe a friend. From what he could remember, she talked about the sort of things his age group was interested in. Of course these talks were few and far between and they weren't really solid evidence anyways. So while he could justify looking at these pictures, interrogating his classmates about their personal lives was way too invasive.

Plagg normally encouraged him to discover who ladybug was. Normally Adrein gave his encouragements the same amount of attention he would give to a devil on his shoulder. This time was different mainly because Ladybug herself had egged him on. She had announced the picture was posted and she had brought up the statue in the first place. So maybe he was taking things too far, but its not like he wouldn't stop if she said to.

He really hoped she would say something rather than just take her photo down without telling him. That would just be cruel and every time he thought about it Adrien had made some little sound that had annoyed Plagg. After the second time Adrein had knocked something off his desk with an exasperated motion to accompany the noise Plagg had put his foot down, or rather his whole self down.

Hence why Adrein spent the night pinned under his kwami unable to sleep. Despite Plagg's discipline he only got a total of four hours and that was if he started counting from when Plagg dragged him to bed and not the last time he could seeing on his alarm clock. It was also probably the reason Gorilla was willing to stop at the Chat Cafe on the way to school. It was an unexpected move as Adrien was always on a tight schedule, but they were running a bit early that day. The bodyguard/chauffeur was most likely concerned that he wouldn't make it into the school building unharmed without some caffeine. To be fair, Adrien had already walked into a doorway at this point, but he was unharmed. He just felt a bit like he was floating which probably would have concerned him more if he had gotten some more sleep.

The gorilla stayed in the car as Adrien floated into the cafe. Despite it being a morning, the cafe was not as crowded as it had been when he stopped by with his friends. The cafe really catered to a younger crowd than those that needed to grab something quick before heading to the office.

Adrien peered into the display of sweets as he stood in line to order. He shouldn't. He should stick to his diet but...no one would see and the scone was shaped like a paw print. He argued with himself as the line ahead of him dwindled knowing the whole time that he would order it.

When he stepped up to the counter a woman stood behind it. She brushed a strand of dark brown hair out of her eyes as she smiled at him. "Good morning, sir."

"Good morning Madam Dubois," Adrien replied swallowing a yawn before listing off his full order. The woman hesitated before punching in his order and retrieving his pastry. As soon as it was placed in his hand Adrien began to eat it. By the time his drink was ready it was gone.

He made sure that he thanked Gorilla when he reentered the vehicle. He felt Plagg move against his leg from inside his bag. He reached down inside and rubbed the kwami's head. He felt a sharp edge press close to his fingers, close enough to let him know Plagg wanted to talk to him, but never close enough to cut. There was no time to talk. They were already at the school. He repeated his thanks and said goodbye.

Inside his classroom Adrien curled around his cup as if he could breath in the caffeine. The chair next to him screeched as it was dragged back. Nino clasped a hand on his shoulder. "Man you are out of it. You feeling alright?"

"What? No. I mean, yeah I am. I just didn't sleep well last night."

"Well hopefully that stuff starts kicking in soon. You don't want to fall asleep on Ms. Bustier."

Adrien smiled and sipped his drink. He couldn't do this again. Either had to spend less time on his search or trust that Ladybug knew what she was doing and would tell him her identity if she needed to. Maybe one day she would want to. So he was back to where he started; in love, hopeless, and definitely in need of something stronger than a latte.

As Ms. Bustier entered the room Adrien peeled himself away from his drink and set it at the corner of his desk. He opened his bag and took out his books, ignoring the intense stare Plagg gave him. He would need to talk to him as soon as possible or order a large amount of cheese to satisfy him. Why the kwami was so intent on talking to him was beyond Adrien. It couldn't be because of his search for Ladybug's picture. Although maybe it had something to do with the late night and lack of cheese pastries at the cafe.

"Good morning class. I would like to bring to your attention to something before we start on today's lesson. Our school is participating in an international art project. It's designed to showcase the theme of unity using whatever medium you choose. I have flyers for you here with all the information. I'll pass them out now and you can think about it after class. The due date is a couple months away."

With that Ms. Bustier handed a stack of white papers off to the front row. By the time Adrien got his copy he was too focused on taking notes to read it. When the class was dismissed for lunch he shoved it and the rest of his belongings into his bag. He threw his now empty cup away. The caffeine had done its job and he would survive until the end of the day. Especially now that his lunch would hopefully give him another energy boost.

"Adrien!" He stopped in the hall and looked back as Alya dragged Nino and Marinette behind her, one for each of her arms. "We're going back to the Chat Cafe, would you like to come with?" Alya was smiling brightly.

"I-" Plagg thumped against his leg. He glanced down at his bag. "I have to do something first. Maybe I'll catch up later."

"Sure. We'd _love_ to have you join us," Alya said.

Adrien watched as Nino tried to stifle his laughter. He didn't see what caused his friend to laugh. The only thing that had happened was that Alya had pulled Marinette closer to her. Well, Marinette expression was a little...weird but he didn't see why Nino would laugh at that. He didn't even think Nino could see it. He must have missed a joke or something when he left the classroom.

Adrien waved as his friends left and headed to the nearest bathroom. All his peers would be headed in the opposite direction, either out for lunch or to the cafeteria. Never the less, he checked the room before he opened his bag. Plagg flew out quickly.

"Plagg, what has you-" The kwami flicked his tail over Adrien's mouth.

"About that cafe," the hovering cat started.

Adiren stepped back as to avoid inhaling his kwami's tail. "I'm sorry Plagg, next time we go there I'll make sure to get you something." The kwami began to fly back and forth in circle.

"No." He paused for a moment. "I mean you definitely should. Did you see those cheese pastries? But that's not my point. Adrien did you realize what you said?"

Adrien frowned. His kwami could always be a bit evasive and lacked anything resembling human manners but that didn't account for what Plagg was saying. Other than the part about the cheese. "What do you mean? I just ordered."

"Yeah you greeted Mrs. Dubois by her name." Adrien distantly felt his mouth fall open. He had spent weeks in a studio with Mrs Dubois. She was a nice lady. She was demanding sure but she never pried. She had listened to him ramble on for hours about how beautiful, talented, and brave Ladybug was. His expression during one of those one sided conversations had been the one she had chosen to carve into that statue that now stood outside her husband's cafe.

But Adrien wasn't supposed to know anything about those nights. Adrien had only been to the cafe twice. He wasn't supposed to know who Madam Dubois was. But Chat Noir did and now he might have been exposed.

* * *

AN: If you've made it this far you should review. They're very much appreciated.

I love writing flustered/frusterated Adrien. Also, Madam Dubois will come up again.


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